Elias Says...

NFL

Schaub

SCHAUB PASSES FOR 527 YARDS IN COMEBACK VICTORY

From Elias: Matt Schaub's game-winning 48-yard TD pass to Andre Johnson gave him 527 passing yards for the game and climaxed the Texans' rally from a 14-point deficit to a 43-37 overtime victory over the Jaguars. The only other player in NFL history who threw for 500 yards and rallied his team to victory from at least 14 points down in the fourth quarter was Boomer Esiason, who did that with the Cardinals in 1996. Esiason passed for 522 yards in a win against the Redskins at RFK Stadium, a 37-34 overtime decision in which Washington led 34-20 in the fourth quarter.

From Elias: Drew Brees reached a unique milestone in the Saints' 38-17 victory at Oakland, becoming the first player in NFL history to complete a pass for at least 20 yards in 100 consecutive games. Last month, Brees broke Drew Bledsoe's record of 95 straight games with a 20-yard completion. Other holders of that record over the last 25 years were Phil Simms (84) and Terry Bradshaw (76).

From Elias: Robert Griffin III threw four touchdown passes in the Redskins' win over the Eagles, including a 61-yarder to Santana Moss on third down and 10 yards to go. Griffin, prior to that completion, had thrown 23 passes this season on third down and 10 or more yards to go and he had not produced a first down on any of them! That was the longest single-season drought of that kind since 2008, when JaMarcus Russell failed to gain a first down on 26 consecutive passes with that down and distance.

From Elias: Julian Edelman returned a punt for a touchdown, caught a touchdown pass and nearly scored again on a 47-yard run in the Patriots' rout of the Colts. Prior to Edelman, the most recent players who scored on both a punt return and a reception, while also recording a run of at least 40 yards in the same game were Freddie Solomon for the 1976 Dolphins and Gale Sayers for the 1965 Bears. (Sayers tied an NFL record by scoring six touchdowns against the 49ers that day.)

From Elias: The Patriots' 59-24 win against the Colts marked the fifth time that New England scored at least 50 points in a game started by Tom Brady. The only other starting quarterback in NFL history with that many 50-point games was Len Dawson, who led the Chiefs franchise to six of them in the 1960s.

From Elias: A.J. Green's touchdown catch in the first quarter on Sunday made him only the fourth player in NFL history with a TD reception in nine straight games of one season. The other three players to do that are all enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame: Jerry Rice (a 12-game streak in 1987), Crazy Legs Hirsch (10 straight games in 1951) and Lance Alworth (9 consecutive games in 1963).

From Elias: Doug Martin ran for 138 yards in the Buccaneers' win on Sunday giving him exactly 1,000 rushing yards for the season. He's the sixth rookie in NFL history to gain at least 1,000 rush yards through his team's first 10 games of a season. The other five were Ottis Anderson (1979 Cardinals), George Rogers (1981 Saints), Eric Dickerson (1983 Rams), Edgerrin James (1999 Colts) and Adrian Peterson (2007 Vikings).

From Elias: The Cowboys spotted the Browns a 13-0 halftime lead before rallying to beat them in overtime, 23-20. Dallas won only one other game in which it trailed by 13 or more points heading into the third quarter. That happened in the opening Monday Night game of the 1983 season at Washington's RFK Stadium, when Danny White threw three second-half TDs and ran for another to help the Cowboys overcome a 23-3 halftime deficit in a 31-30 triumph over their division rival.

From Elias: The Falcons on Sunday became only the second NFL team in the past 40 years to win a game in which it trailed by at least 13 points and ended up committing at least five more turnovers than its opponent. Atlanta defeated the Cardinals, 23-19, overcoming both a 13-0 deficit and a minus-five turnover margin. The only other team in the past four decades to fashion a win of that kind was the 1998 Bears, who did so in a 31-27 victory over the Lions at Soldier Field.

From Elias: Aaron Rodgers' touchdown pass to Randall Cobb with 1:55 remaining in the fourth quarter gave the Packers a 21-20 lead and Green Bay went on to defeat Detroit, 24-20. In each of the last two games between those two teams the Packers have won after trailing with less than two minutes left in the final period. Mike McCarthy's team beat the Lions in Week 17 last season, 45-41, thanks to a TD pass from Matt Flynn to Jermichael Finley with 1:10 to go. Prior to those two games Green Bay had not overcome a deficit in the final two minutes to defeat Detroit since doing so in September 1990.

From Elias: Peyton Manning threw three touchdown passes in the Broncos' win against the Chargers, after he also threw three scoring passes in Denver's comeback victory at San Diego last month. The only other Broncos quarterbacks who threw three or more TD passes in two different games against the Chargers in one season were Marlin Briscoe (1968), John Elway (1997) and Jake Plummer (2003).

From Elias: The Jets ended their three-game losing streak with a clean 27-13 win at St. Louis, in which they did not commit a turnover and had only three penalties enforced against them. It was only the second regular-season game in the last eight seasons in which the Jets scored at least 27 points, with no giveaways and three or fewer penalties. The other was a 38-0 whitewash of the Raiders in Oakland in 2009. (New York also had one victory of the type in the postseason over that span: the 28-21 upset of the Patriots at Gillette Stadium in January 2011.)

NBA

Durant

DURANT'S FIRST TRIPLE-DOUBLE

From Elias: Kevin Durant scored 25 points to go along with 13 rebounds and 10 assists, for his first career triple-double, in the Thunder's 119-109 victory over the Warriors. Durant, who had 10,223 career points entering Sunday, and Dirk Nowitzki are the only active players who recorded their first career triple-double after scoring at least 10,000 points. Nowitzki had already scored 16,220 points before getting his first career triple-double on February 6, 2008.

From Elias: Damian Lillard, after Portland's win on Sunday night, is averaging 19.0 points and 6.1 assists through his first 10 career games. The last NBA player to average at least 19 points and 6 assists through his first 10 career games was Isiah Thomas, who averaged 21.2 points and 6.9 assists in his first 10 games with the Pistons in 1981.

From Elias: Carmelo Anthony led all scorers with 26 points as the Knicks improved to 4-0 at home with an 88-76 victory over the Pacers. Anthony is the first player in team history to score at least 25 points in each of the season's first four home games.

The Knicks committed only nine turnovers, marking their fifth game this season with fewer than 10 turnovers. New York has already surpassed its total from last season, when it only had four games with fewer than 10 turnovers.

From Elias: Toronto's Jose Calderon had 18 assists in the Raptors' 97-86 victory over Orlando. Calderon's assist total matched that of the entire Magic team, making Calderon the third player this season to have at least as many assists in a game as the opposing team. The others to do so were Chris Paul on November 2 at the Lakers (both Paul and the Lakers had 15 assists), and Darren Collison on November 5 versus the Blazers (both Collison and the Blazers had 13 assists).

Calderon had 18 of the Raptors' 22 assists, good for 81.8 percent of the team's total. That's a franchise record. The previous mark was held by Damon Stoudamire, who had 80.0 percent of Toronto's assists (8-of-10) on Dec. 27, 1996 at Washington.

From Elias: Andray Blatche led the Nets in scoring with 22 points off the bench in Brooklyn's 99-90 win at Sacramento. Blatche became the first NBA player this season to score 20 points in fewer than 20 minutes played. And he's the first Nets player to score at least 20 points in less than 20 minutes since Rafer Alston, who tallied 20 points in 19 minutes on Dec. 15, 2009 at Cleveland.

From Elias: Six Pistons reached double-digits in points, led by Greg Monroe's 20, as Detroit defeated Boston 103-83. The Pistons also had six players score at least 10 points in their previous game on Friday. It's the first time since March 2011 that Detroit's played back-to-back games in which six players scored at least 10 points.

From Elias: Rajon Rondo needed four assists in the last six minutes of the fourth quarter to continue his streak of consecutive games with at least 10 assists. It was the second time in his 34-game streak that Rondo had six-or-fewer assists through three quarters. Rondo also had six helpers through three quarters on November 12 at Chicago.